The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-12-04
LUCKY JOHN CHINAMAN.
EE HAS PRETTY GIRLS FOR HIS
TEACHERS.

Scenes in tho Chinese Laundry Schools
of New York-The Heather Have a
Good Time and Learn Many Useful
Things.
New YORK, Dec. 3-There are about
thirty Chinese Sunday schools in a more or
less fourishing condition i'll the city of New
York at present. They have been written
up from every point of view but one
That is. however, the most interesting of
them all. 1t is in relation to their fair
teachers, whose enthusiasm since the work
was first started has led to its present strong
growth.
1t is seven years since a wealthy New
Yorker died, leaving in his will large sum
of money to be devoted to the Christian
izing of Chinamsn in the city. The money
was left to the care of the Foreign Mission
airy Society. whose headquarters are at 50
Centre street. For some time after the
money had been paid into their treasury the
managers of the society were much puzzled
TO know bow to make use of it. Their first
plan proved failure. They converted a
Chinaman and then paid him to interest his
fellow countrymen in Christianity. This
Chinaman was, however, crafty one, and
while working little for the society did a
great deal for himself His countrymen dis
trusted him, and within year after he had
started his work his bad faith had become so
plain to his employers that he was dis
charged, and that way Of doing work was
abandoned for some time
1t was then that Miss Goodrich, lady
prominent in church work, undertook to
put the plan of Outstanding Cinnamon
into practical working shape. She assisted
by several other ladies, started a Sunday
school near the Five Points Her ideas of
teaching Cinnamon was to interest young
ladies in the work, and it succeeded beauti-
fully The Cinnamon, seeing they were so
industriously sought after, managed, how
ever, to indicate the way in which they
wanted to be taught. They insisted that
each pupil should have a separate teacher.
They objected to men, as being too harsh and
inpatient, and said that their own mild ma
lures could be much more easily led by
pretty young women than by the older and
more experienced male workers in Sunday
schools.
Miss Goodrich was the Superintendent,
and continued in the work up to the time of
her death, not long ago By that time a
large and flourishing school had been estab-
lished with nearly sixty Chinese pupils and,
of course, as many teachers. The tomb
stone which was placed over her grave at
Calvary Cemetery bore an inscription of
gratitude in the Chinese language from her
pupils Her plan of teaching Chinese
was adopted in other churches thereaf-
ter.
The second school to DO established was the
one in the Presbyterian church at Four
teenth street and Second avenue. This is at
present in a thriving condition and prac-
tically self-supporting. Half the churches
in New York have Sunday schools running
on the same basis as the original. The sue
cess attendant upon Miss Goodrich's plan
was due largely to the ethusiasm with which
the young women connected with the
churches entered into the work. 1t
became sort of fad, and girls We'd with
each other in their attentions to their Mon
golian pupils. Some Of them even over
did the thing to such an extent that the
church authorities had to interfere.
They invited their pupils around to their
homes and gave them private lessons there
until it was stopped. Each girl did her best
to make her particular pupil advance more
rapidly in the teachings of the Gospel than
the others. To do this she laid herself out to
interest the Chinaman in his studies and soon
got him to feel that she was interested in
him. The work succeeded so well that the
Foreign Missionary Society saw way in
which it could bring a good many China
men together.